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CHC employees hope housing allowance won’t be taken away
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Posted on Jan 26 2009
A proposal to discontinue the monthly housing allowance of Commonwealth Health Center employees due to declining government revenues has been worrying personnel at the hospital.
“It’s only been a proposal. There’s no action on it yet, but we hope the proposal won’t be implemented because it’s a big concern to us,” said Joey Camero, a member of the CNMI Nursing Association and head nurse in the emergency room of CHC.
CHC personnel hired from outside the CNMI are given monthly housing allowances of $600 and $800, depending on whether the employee has his family with him.
“We understand that we are in a tough situation right now but we hope they won’t take away the monthly housing allowance because it’s been a big help to us nurses and others, too,” said Camero.
Nurses in the CNMI are paid much less than their counterpart in the U.S. mainland. Registered nurses here have an average wage of $16.03 to $14 an hour, while those in the U.S. earn $20 and up, said Camero. Licensed practical nurses here get paid an average of $11.95 an hour, which is far below the average in the states.
Starting today, Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez will be meeting with non-U.S. citizen employees at the Department of Public Health to discuss concerns about the impact on their jobs of the federalization of CNMI immigration by June. Camero said the housing allowance issue might also be discussed.
